domenica 13 aprile 2014

Aix en Provence is abeautifulandnobletown whose origins date back to Roman times, it was
the capital of the Counts of Provence and is the historic capital of art and
culture of Provence.

Here there are more than 200 eighteenth-century villas, and is the
birthplace of the great impressionist Paul Cézanne, the city where he spent
most of his life and where he painted many of his masterpieces. Aix en Provence
is also an important university, with more than 30,000 students.

domenica 20 ottobre 2013

St. Peter's Basilica (Latin: Basilica Sancti
Petri) is a Late Renaissance church located
within Vatican City.

Designed principally by Donato Bramante,
Michelangelo,Carlo Maderno and Gian Lorenzo Bernini, St. Peter's is the most
renowned work of Renaissance
architecture and remains one of the largest churches in the world. While it is
neither the mother church of the Roman Catholic Churc nor the cathedral of the Bishop
of Rome, St. Peter's is regarded as one of the holiest Catholic sites. It has
been described as "holding a unique position in the Christian world"and as "the greatest of all churches of Christendom".

By Roman Catholic tradition, the
basilica is the burial site of its namesake Saint Peter, one of the twelve
apostles of Jesus and, also according to tradition, the first Bishop of Rome
and therefore first in the line of the papal tomb succession. Tradition and
some historical evidence hold that Saint Pter’s tomb is directly below the
altar of the basilica. For this reason, many Popes have been interred at St.
Peter's since the Early Christian period. There has been a church on this site since
the time of Constantine the Great. Construction of the present basilica,
replacing the Old St. Peter’s Basilica of the 4th century, began on 18 April
1506 and was completed on 18 November 1626.

St. Peter's is famous as a place of pilfrimage,
for its liturgical functions. Because of its location in the Vatican, the
Pope presides at a number of services throughout the year, drawing audiences of
15,000 to over 80,000 people, either within the Vatican Basilica, or in St.
Peter's Square. St. Peter's has many strong historical associations, with the Early
Christian church, the papacy, the Protestant Reformation and Counter-reformation,
and with numerous artists, most significantly Michelangelo. As a work of
architecture, it is regarded as the greatest building of its age. St. Peter's
is one of the four churches of Rome
that hold the rank of Major Basilica. Contrary to popular misconception, it is
not a cathedral as it is not the seat of a bishop; the cathedra of the Pope (as
Bishop of Rome) is located in the Archbasilica of St. John Lateran.

St. Peter's is a church in the Renaissance style located in Rome west of the River
Tiber and near the Janiculum Hill and Hadrian’s Mausoleum. Its central dome
dominates the skyline of Rome.
The basilica is approached via St.
Peter Square, a forecourt in two sections, both surrounded
by tall colonnades. The first space is oval and the second trapezoid. The
façade of the basilica, with a giant order of columns, stretches across the end
of the square and is approached by steps on which stand two 5.55 metres
(18.2 ft) statues of the 1st century apostles to Rome, Saints Peter and Paul.

The basilica is cruciform in shape, with an elongated nave in the Latin
cross form but the early designs were for a centrally planned structure and
this is still in evidence in the architecture. The central space is dominated
both externally and internally by one of the largest domes in the world. The
entrance is through a narthex, or entrance hall, which stretches across the
building. One of the decorated bronze doors leading from the narthex is the Holy
Door, only opened in Holy Years.

The interior is of vast dimensions when compared with other churches.
One author wrote: "Only gradually does it dawn upon us – as we watch
people draw near to this or that monument, strangely they appear to shrink;
they are, of course, dwarfed by the scale of everything in the building. This
in its turn overwhelms us."

The nave which leads to the central dome is in three bays, with piers
supporting a barrel-vault, the highest of any church. The nave is framed by
wide aisles which have a number of chapels off them. There are also chapels
surrounding the dome. Moving around the basilica in a clockwise direction they
are: The Baptistery, the Chapel of the Presentation
of the Virgin, the larger Choir Chapel, the Clementine Chapel with the altar of
St Gregory, the Sacristy Entrance, the left transept with altars to the Crucifixion
of St Peter,St Joseph and St Thomas, the altar of the Sacred Heart, the Chapel
of the Madonna of Colonna, the altar of St. Peter and the Paralytic, the apse
with St. Peter's Cathedra, the altar of St. Peter raising Tabitha, the altar of
the Archangel Michael, the altar of the Navicella, the right transept with
altars of St Erasmus, Saints Processo and Martiniano, and St Wenceslas, the
altar of St Basil, the Gregorian Chapel with the altar of the Madonna of
Succour, the larger Chapel of the Holy Sacrament, the Chapel of St Sebastian
and the Chapel of the Pietà.

At the heart of the basilica, beneath the high
altar, is the Confessio or Chapel of the Confession, in reference
to the confession of faith by St. Peter, which led to his martyrdom. Two
curving marble staircases lead to this underground chapel at the level of the
Constantinian church and immediately above the burial place of Saint Peter.

The entire interior of St. Peter's is lavishly decorated with marble,
reliefs, architectural sculpture and gilding. The basilica contains a large
number of tombs of popes and other notable people, many of which are considered
outstanding artworks. There are also a number of sculptures in niches and
chapels, including Michelangelo’s Pietà. The central feature is a baldachin, or
canopy over the Papal Altar, designed by Gian Lorenzo Bernini. The sanctuary culminates
in a sculptural ensemble, also by Bernini, and containing the symbolic Chair
of Saint Peter.

One observer wrote: "St Peter's Basilica is the reason why Rome is still the center
of the civilized world. For religious, historical, and architectural reasons it
by itself justifies a journey to Rome,
and its interior offers a palimpsest of artistic styles at their best..."

The American philosopher Ralph Waldo Emerson described St. Peter's as
"an ornament of the earth ... the sublime of the beautiful."

mercoledì 9 ottobre 2013

LakeBolsena
is a crater lake of central Italy, of volcanic
origin, which was formed starting 370,000 years ago following the collapse of a
caldera of the Vulsini volcanic complex into a deep aquifer. Roman historic
records indicate activity of the Vulsini volcano occurred as recently as 104
BC, since when it has been dormant. The two islands in the southern part of the
lake were formed by underwater eruptions following the initial collapse of the
caldera.

The lake is supplied entirely from the aquifer, rainfall and runoff, with
one outlet at the southern end. A sewage treatment plant filters most of the
raw sewage from the surrounding communities. Constructed in 1996, it features
pipelines transporting the sewage from every major community around the lake to
the treatment plant on the MartaRiver; that is, no
effluents enter the lake. Fertilizers are a second source of contamination.
However, the chemical content of the lake is monitored at several stations
around it.

Lying within the northern part of the province
of Viterbo that is called Alto
Lazio ("Upper Latium") or Tuscia,
the lake has a long historic tradition. The Romans called it Lacus Volsinii,
adapting the Etruscan name, Velzna, of
the last Etruscan city to hold out against Rome, which was translocated after 264 BC,
and its original location today has not been securely identified. The lake is
bordered on one side by updated forms of the Roman consular road Via Cassia..
In addition to the historic sites of all periods, LakeBolsena
is currently surrounded by numerous tourist establishments, largely for
camping, agrotourism and bed and breakfasts.

One third of the lake was donated to the Church by the noble family
Alberici of Orvieto. In recognition of the donation the Alberici family was
honored with a ceremony three times a year performed by the Bishop of Orvieto.